Device for automatically selecting and feeding roll films



United States Patent [72] Inventor YoshioMiyauchi [50] Field ofSearch.......................... 226/108, Hikone, Japan 109, 110, 188 [2|] Appl. No. 776,704

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Primary Examiner-Allen N. Knowles Attorney-Spensley and Horn [32] Priority Nov. 16, 1967 [3 3] Japan [3 l 1 No. 42/731546 ABSTRACT: A device for automatically selecting and feeding roll films. This invention pertains to an automatic roll film selecting device by which it is possible to select the desired roll 226/110 film from a number of roll films of different sensitivity and/or B65h 17/42 width installed in a photomechanical (process) camera.

[S4] DEVICE FOR AUTOMATICALLY SELECTING AND LF m lg m .m m .LW L8 0 N R N G m Nm m I mm c C 5 m4 Uh UH UH PATENTED [150291970 SHEET 1 BF 3 FEGE (osulo MWAUUH INVENTOR.

DEVICE FOR AUTOMATICALLY SELECTING AND FEEDING ROLL FILMS BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Hereinafter following is the explanation of this invention based on the embodiment shown in the drawings.

The part 1 is the primary shaft to which are secured gears 2,2 and which is turned by the primary motor Ma, while the gears 2,2 engage free-running gears 4,4 of the secondary shaft 3 which is parallel with the primary shaft 1, the free-running gears 4,4 turning freely around the secondary shaft 3 by the gears 2,2 as the primary shaft 1 turns.

In the drawings, 5 and 6 are sprockets attached to the rotor shaft of the primary motor Ma and to the primaryshaft 1 respectively, whereas 7 is an endless chain connecting the two sprockets 5 and 6.

A sleeve 8 is secured to the primary shaft 1, (FIG. 2). Along I this sleeve 8 in staggered angular positions around shaft 1 and in the same number as that of the film rolls (three film rolls are shown in this embodiment) are the projecting teeth 9a, 9b, 90. Typically, teeth 9a, 9b, and 9c are staggered at 90 in relation with each other and at adequate intervals along the axis. At selected and aligned positions on the rotary loci of the projecting teeth 90, 9b, 9c are the microswitches 10a, 10b, 100 for breaking the circuit of the primary motor Ma, and the microswitches are made to function one after the other in accordance with the rotation of the sleeve 8 and actuation by teeth 9a, 9b, and 9c.

One end of each microswitch 10a, 10b, 100 as shown in FIG. 4, for example, is connected with the switches 12a, 12b, 120, which are connected in parallel with one of the power supply terminals, and the opposite end connected to one pole of the primary motor Ma is connected with the other power supply terminal.

Therefore, by throwing on the first switch 120, the current will pass to the primary motor Ma; however, when the first microswitch functions by the first projecting tooth 9a, the circuit for the primary motor Ma will be broken and the motor will stop. At this time, owing to the fact that the second and the third switches 12b, 12c are not connected, the motor will not stop by the function of the second and third microswitches 10b, 10c even if they are operated by the second and third projecting teeth 9b, 9c.

The secondary shaft 3 is connected with the secondary motor Mb which commences to rotate when the primary motor Ma stops, the connection being made by the chain which spans the sprocket 13 attached to the shaft of the secondary motor Mb and the sprocket 14 attached to the secondary shaft 3.

In order to turn on the secondary motor Mb after the current to the primary motor Ma is cut off thereby stopping said motor, a contact point 16' of the solenoid coil 16 installed in the circuit of the primary motor Ma, as shown in FIG. 4, is installed in the circuit of the secondary motor Mb connected with the power supply 11 so that when the power is passed on to the solenoid coil 16, the contact point 16' is open whereas if the solenoid coil 16 is not excited, the contact point will be closed. Arranged in this way, when the circuit of the primary motor Ma is broken, the contact point 16 of the circuit of the secondary motor Mb closes thereby passing the current to this motor which will commence to revolve.

Moreover, a gear 17 is fixed to the secondary shaft 3, and also cams 18,18 which are fixed to the free-running gears 4,4 as one body are mounted freely on the shaft 3. A specific part of the circumference of these cams 18,18 is cut away and thereby constitutes the cutaway part 18' of these cams.

Shafts 19a, 19b, 190 are auxiliary shafts which are parallel with the secondary shaft 3 and arranged around it as at positions concentrically and corresponding with the number of film rolls. Openings 21a, 21b, 21c for the shafts 19a,-19b, 190 are slot-shaped towards the secondary shaft 3 and the respective shafts 19a, 19b, 19c, can move parallel toward the secondary shaft 3.

The auxiliary shafts 19a, 19b, 190 are provided with their respective springs 22a, 22b, 22c which push the shafts toward the secondary shaft 3 at all times thereby contacting freerunning rings 23a, 23b, 23c such as free-running bearings, against the circumference of the cam 18 of the secondary shaft 3. The shafts 19a,. 19b, 19c are also provided with gears 24a, 24b, 240 respectively so that these gears can engage the gear 17. I

The gears 24a, 24b, 24c are separated from the gear 17 of the secondary shaft 3 when the free-running rings 23a, 23b, 23c of the auxiliary shafts 19a, 19b, 19c are in contact with the cam 18 of the secondary shaft 3 other than at the cutaway part 18'. When one of the free-running rings 23a, 23b, 23c comes in contact with the cutaway part 18' of the cam 18, the corresponding auxiliary shaft 19a, l9b, 19c is moved toward the secondary shaft 3 by the action of the springs 22a, 22b, 22c and thereby engages the corresponding gear 24a, 24b, 24c with the gear 17 of the secondary shaft 3. Therefore, only the auxiliary shaft whose gear 24 engages the gear 17 of the secondary shaft 3 will commence to turn.

When the cutaway part 18' of the cam 18 of the secondary shaft 3 comes to the position of the free-running ring 23a of the first auxiliary shaft 19a, the gear 17 of the secondary shaft 3 only will engage the gear 24a of the shaft 19a. When the cutaway part 18' of the cam 18 comes to the position of the freerunning ring 23b of the secondary auxiliary shaft 19b, the second auxiliary shaft 19b only will turn, and similarly, when the cutaway part of the cam 18 comes to the position of the free-running ring 23c of the third auxiliary shaft 190, this only will turn by the action of the gear 17 of the secondary shaft 3.

The rotation of the respective auxiliary shafts 19a, 19b, 19c is transmitted by the relevant mechanisms to one of the two feeding rollers 25a,25b, 26a,26b, 27a,27b which hold the roll films fa, fb fc. Specifically, the rotation is transmitted to rollers 25a, 26a, 27a, thereby feeding out the respective films fa, fl;,fc one by one.

The films fed out through the slit 29 onto the vacuum film board .28 are passed between a separate pair of feeding rollers 30a, 30b, 30c and come down parallel with the surface of the vacuum film board 28. This pair of feeding rollers 30a, 30b, 30c is made to rotate by the rotation of either the secondary shaft 3 or the secondary motor Mb so that whichever of the latter two commences to turn, the two rollers will turn accordingly.

The phase relation of the projecting pieces 9a, 9b, 9c of the sleeve 8 of the primary shaft 1 and that of the cam 18 of the secondary shaft 3 is such that when the cutaway part 18' of the cam 18 comes to the position of the free-running ring 230 of the first auxiliary shaft 190, the projecting piece 9a activates the first microswitch when the cutaway part 18' of the cam 18 comes to the positionof the free-running ring 23b of the secondary auxiliary shaft 19b, the second projecting piece 9b activates the second microswitch 10b, and when the cutaway part 18' of the cam 18 comes to the position of the freerunning ring 230 of the third auxiliary shaft 19c, the third projecting piece 90 will activate the third microswitch 100.

As shown in FIG. 2, 31 is the box for the mechanism in which the primary and secondary shafts 1 and 3, the auxiliary shafts 19a, 19b, 19c and the primary and secondary motors Ma and Mb are all contained.

Parts 32a, 32b, 320 are the contact pieces to push the respective auxiliary shafts 19a,l9b, 19;: towards the secondary shaft 3, and they contact the free-running rings 23a, 23b, 23c

Sprockets 33a, 33b, 330, (33a and 33c not shown) are attached respectively to the auxiliary shafts 19a, 19b, 19c and their rotations are adequately transmitted to the film feeder rollers 25a, 26a, 27a by gears, belts or other well known mechanical devices.

In this device, if the requirement calls for feeding the first film fa onto the vacuum film board 28, the switch 12a connected with the first microswitch in series is thrown on. This will rotate the primary motor Ma which will turn the primary shaft 1 which in turn will race the free-running gears 4,4 of the secondary shaft 3 through the medium of gears 2,2. When the cutaway part 18' of the cam 18 which turns together with the free-running gear 4 comes to the position of the free-running ring 230 of the first auxiliary shaft 190, this shaft will move towards the secondary shaft 3 by the action of the spring 220 as previously explained and engage the gear 240 of the first auxiliary shaft 19a with the gear 17 of the secondary shaft 3. Simultaneously thefirst projecting piece 9a of the sleeve 8 of the primary shaft 'l will also come to the position of the first microswitch 10a and activate the said microswitch.

By the function of the microswitch 100, the current to the primary motor Ma is switched off thereby stopping the revolution of the said motor Ma and, simultaneously or somewhat delayed, the current will pass to the secondary motor Mb.

By the rotation of the secondary motor Mb, the secondary shaft 3 will commence to rotate and this rotation will be transmitted to the gear 24a of the first auxiliary shaft 19a engaged with the gear 17 and thereby turn the first auxiliary shaft 19a.

The rotation of the first auxiliary shaft 19a will turn the feed roller 25a,25b of the first film fa which will be fed into the surface of the vacuum film board 28.

e in order to feed out the second film fb, the switch 1217 connected with the microswitch 10b in series is thrown on. When the cutaway part 18'the cam 18 comes to the position of the free-running ring 23b of the second auxiliary shaft 19b, the gear 241: of the second auxiliary shaft 1% will engage the gear 11 of the secondary shaft 3 and the second projecting piece 9b will activate the second microswitch 10b which will stop the rotation of the primary shaft 1 as well as the primary motor Ma. On the other hand, the secondary motor Mb will commence to rotate and turn the secondary auxiliary shaft 19b by the second shaft 3 through the medium of the gears 17 and 24b thereby turning the feed rollers 26a, 26b and will commence feeding the second film fl).

Similarly, to feed the third film fc, the third switch 120 is thrown on.

To stop the roll from which the film is fed after the desired length is passed out, the manual switch Si is operated (e.g.,

opened) or an automatic measuring device can be provided in order to stop the rotation of the secondary motor. Conversely the switch Si is initially operated to start the entire cycle.

Thus, as explained, automatic selection of the desired film from a number of roll films of different sensitivity and/or width and feeding it to the film suction board is made convenient by this invention.

l'claim:

1. A device for automatically selecting and feeding roll films, comprising:

aprimary motor;

a primary shaft rotated by said primary motor;

switch"means coupled to said primary motor for enabling and disabling said motor;

first means for activating said switch means to control said primary motor, said means comprising a plurality of transducing means coupled to said shaft and arranged at different positions circumferentially for operating said by the rotation of said primary shaft; a plurality of feed rollers; I a plurality of auxiliary shafts for transmitting driving action to feed rollers of film rolls and coupled thereto; and

driven means coupled to each of said auxiliary shafts and one of said driver means selectively driven by said driving means according to the position of said cam means, thereby enabling one of the film rolls to be driven and fed by the action of the secondary motor through the medium of rotation of the secondary shaft and the auxiliary shaft.

2. The structure defined in claim 1 wherein said transducing means are a plurality of projections axially and circumferentially spaced on said primary shafts; said switch means includes a switch associated with each projection and wherein the particular switch operated by a particular projection determines the angular position of said cam means.

3. The structure defined in claim 2 wherein the angular position of the cam means determines the engagement of said driving means and said driven means.

4. The structure defined in claim 3 wherein said auxiliary shafts are movably mounted and biased to enable engagement of said driving and driven means, said cam means preventing engagement unless a cam surface is aligned with said auxiliary shaft.

secondary motor only 

